Haunted Schools. They seem to be common and why not. Think about how much energy is expended on a daily basis in a school. All of those kids, the drama, the hormones, the friendship, the hate! It’s all in one building all the time. And if we are to believe places that carry a lot of energy generally cater to the spirit world, then what better place than a school.
Haunted Aquinas College
Written by Jens
Let me start off by saying that I love Aquinas College. I've been there for almost two years, and it has this amazing atmosphere to it. You don't feel like you're anywhere near a large city. Minus the rabid, fat, mutant squirrels that size you up then hunt you down, Aquinas College is pretty friendly and unique. You can tell most of the buildings are older. I feel comfortable there most of the time. However, there have been some really bizarre, off-putting occurrences.
The following chunk of data is something I compiled a few months before I attended Aquinas.
Aquinas College was founded by the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids in 1886. It is located on 107 acres of land, where every tree known to exist in Michigan is located right on campus! It is a liberal arts college, one of the best in the Midwestern region, with close to sixty majors for bachelors and masters programs.
In 1922, the Dominican Sisters merged with a new college for women and received charter from the state to hand out degrees in 1923. In 1931, it became the first Catholic college in the USA to go co-ed, becoming the Catholic Junior College.
In 1941, the school became Aquinas College and operated as a four-year institute. The name Aquinas comes from the Catholic saint, St. Thomas Aquinas. He was a 13th century educator and scholar and was considered a great thinker for his time. He stressed open-mindedness and keeping an open heart. He also stressed learning from life experiences.
In 2005, demonologist and paranormal investigator John Zaffis visited Aquinas to lecture and tour the campus and see what he could pick up on. In the Holmdene building, he claims to have felt the presence of a number of spirits, including one white woman who was so strong-willed in life, that in death, even her African-American servant remains trapped with her.
Holmdene is full of rumors. One pertains to murder, and I could find virtually no details on it. Another rumor is of a little boy who drowned on the property and supposedly haunts the building. He is said to be the son of a wealthy family, the Loews, who owned the home a long time ago. Nighttime security often report locking the entire place up and turning off the lights, only to have them turn back on by themselves. Faucets turn on and off by themselves.
Zaffis said there is also a spirit in the attic of Holmdene, but he didn't want to discuss it. "I'm leaving that one alone," he said.
Campus Security officer Thomas Shearer has spent the last decade of his life working at Aquinas and has covered the entire property. He knows every inch of it. He says that sometimes children can be heard laughing in the Browne building (mostly used for campus security offices) when it's otherwise unoccupied. The front hallway of Browne also has an interesting swastika-like floor pattern, which leads some people to believe the building is connected to Nazism (possibly even Satanism). Could it be a central locale for spirits?
The Bukowski Chapel (named for the first administrator, Monsignor Bukowski) is said to have housed and cremated bodies during its "funeral era". It is a rather small building that is open to all.
In the Hruby Hall computer lab, Zaffis sensed a seemingly harmless spirit. (This area was once a chapel for the resident nuns.) Employee Katherine Heinrich says she felt a suffocating pressure while in the room.
Now that I've been there, I have a lot to add.
These are all second-hand accounts my friends relayed to me. I trust their word, though I want to be a little skeptical sometimes. One friend of mine was driving through at night and saw a horse and rider. As he got closer, he noticed they were transparent. He thought maybe he was tired and seeing things, but he kept looking and they were still there.
Another friend of mine is rather prone to this kind of thing. She has seen a little girl's ghost who acts rather friendly. My friend also saw green lights coming from the third level of Holmdene one night when the building was supposed to be empty.
Personally, I've heard voices and seen shadows on the third floor of the Academic Building. It's nothing that makes me feel threatened -- just watched.
So, if anybody has any more info on Aquinas College or has had an experience, I'd love to know! AQ is such a fascinating place with a lot of history.
Email submission October 2008
As a freshman this Fall 2008 Semester, I changed my outlook on the paranormal. My roommate and I found your website and decided to investigate ourselves. Aquinas College's Holmdene building is right next to my residence hall Regina West. On the first week of actually living on campus, we went investigating very late at night. We walked around the building around 1:00 a.m. and didn't see much but got very uncomfortable. The next day we took a tour and found out some valuable information about the history and other random facts of the campus. After taking our tour we went out later that night. As we went around the building we all heard a child laughing in the nearby woods. As we all looked around for answers, we looked into the windows of the building. The lights that were on a second ago, were now off and others were on. As we started to walk away we felt like someone was following us. As days went on, we stopped going over to the building. My best friend came over one night and I told him all of the things that have gone on.
Of course he thought I was joking but he could tell I wasn't! We walked over to the building and saw lights flicker on and off randomly. My friend looked at me suddenly and grabbed my arm and pointed. He was so scared I could see it in his eyes he saw something. He stuttered and finally said to me, "Dude, I just saw a full body figure walk across the lit room and go in front of the side door.” I looked at him and I knew he was scared. My friend is a big guy and he doesn't believe in ghosts or anything paranormal, but now after his Holmdene experience, he will never forget it. This is just one of many things I've heard and seen while at AQ.
Contact us or join the Michigan’s Otherside forums and share your stories in the Aquinas College post.
Sources
http://www.paranormalmichigan.com/Kent.htm
http://www.aquinas.edu/news/history.html